A Word On Turkey

 What I find remarkable is the number of people who remember that Turkey had committed genocide against the Armenians during the first world war, or that France carried out a genocide in Algeria. Now, of all times, when the issue of the Syrian revolution has split families and divided opinion throughout the world, somebody decides that Turkey's support of the Syrian revolution is a conspiracy, because at one time in its history the crackpots that overthrew a tyrannical Ottoman empire decided Armenians were not Turkish enough, and that they were conspiring with the European powers.

These same people never thought about mentioning this dark period of Turkey's history when Erdogan stood by the Palestinians of Gaza, nor did they have a problem with Turkey's genocide when it was Assad's best friend. Instead we are reminded that Turkey supported Algeria during the French oppression of the revolution there, conveniently forgetting that the Turkey before Erdogan was very, very, different from the Turkey that considered all Arabs as "dogs" and was desperate to be seen as a European power - in the same way that Turkey after the fall of the Ottomans was very different to what was there before it.

Once again, we are drawn into all manner of accusations, counter-accusations, and the spreading of the lies and dirty laundry of each side. It seems any and every kind of topic is up for discussion now, anything apart from discussing the one thing that is of crucial importance - Assad and his regime must go.